[DIRTYSECRET]

My MacBook's good but I don't want to travel with it. I may be out of the country for 6 months and all I need is emails and perhaps my pro football/baseball. An iPad may be best but a bit on the expensive side. Dependability is the key word.

Any ideas? Thanks.

[retiredguy123]

Samsung - Galaxy Tab A7 10.4" Wi-Fi 32GB.

On sale at Best Buy for $180.

If you want really cheap, get a Kindle Fire 7 inch for $50. I have 8 of them that I use as alarm clocks.

[Pairadocs]

Originally Posted by DIRTYSECRET

My MacBook's good but I don't want to travel with it. I may be out of the country for 6 months and all I need is emails and perhaps my pro football/baseball. An iPad may be best but a bit on the expensive side. Dependability is the key word.

Any ideas? Thanks.

I will begin with all the disclaimers: Not an apple fan, have had 2 large (10.5) screen Samsung tablets, NO complaints ever, very easy platform to use, incredible vibrant screen image and camera, but in the $500 category. Also never been a big Amazon fan, but of course most of us can't avoid it completely. Wanted a very inexpensive tablet for travel, still wanted a large enough screen to not get eye fatigue when I used it as a laptop. With reluctance, I ordered one from a TV shopping channel, think it was the one here in FL. The big "deal" (it was around Thanksgiving or maybe school starting) some years ago now, was the 10+ inch Amazon Fire for less than $100. All I can tell you is this thing has been beaten around everywhere, from beach, to cruise ship, to golf cart and air plane, often without even putting it into protective case ! The cameras, front and back, are excellent (but yes, my new Samsung Note phone is a higher quality camera, but most would not know the difference in the ones I take with the Fire. Never thought I'd be recommending an Amazon tablet, but, now I wonder why I ever bought such expensive ones ! That's my honest review (confession ! LOL !)

[retiredguy123]

I also have an expensive Samsung tablet ($900), but the Samsung Tab A is a very good deal. The screen resolution is not as good as the higher end tablets, but it is good enough and will save hundreds of dollars. When you spend a lot of money on a tablet, you are mostly paying for a better screen resolution, which you may not even notice.

[Bill14564]

My Amazon Fire HD9 was relatively inexpensive and handles email, browser, Hulu, and Netflix just fine.

Only two things that annoy me are the mail tool and limited apps. The built-in mail tool us usable and I use it to access my gmail but it isn't quite as usable as a true gmail app. There is a gmail app on the Google Store but the Fire device can only access the Amazon store natively and the Amazon store has a limited number of apps. There are a few things I've not been able to find but nothing that has been a show stopper.

As a last resort I have a remote desktop capability that I can use to access my home computer from the tablet. I don't need to use it often but it makes me feel better knowing that it's available.